Top 10 Imperatives for Insurers in 2013

1. Innovate for advantage

The pace of innovation in insurance is accelerating. Insurers are transforming their individual companies and stirring up the industry as a whole. By continually rethinking, reinventing, reimagining and/or retooling products, services and processes, experiences are transformed and game-changing results achieved.

2. Transform the customer experience

The customer experience is increasingly becoming an even more critical determinant in the growth and profit equation. Recognizing that the expectations of policyholders and agents are evolving, insurers must embark on a path that employs data, tools, process automation and user experience design across multiple capability areas to deliver holistic care at every possible touch point.

3. Evolve product configuration capabilities

Success in todays environment requires real agility and speed to market. That requires a streamlined approach that lets insurers create products in an integrated fashionfrom a coverage, rating, rules, and forms perspectiveand track the many changes that take place over time. Rating and product configuration are top priorities for efficiency and market advantage.

4. Commit to dynamic distribution capabilities

Current distribution demands and expectations are dynamic; insurers know that a one-size-fits-all model wont do the job. Agents, brokers, MGAs, prospects, policyholders and third parties all have different needs and want to interact with insurers and each other in a wide variety of ways. That means a serious commitment to providing support for every type of submission, inquiry, or service request through any channel, via any device.

5. Take underwriting differentiation to the next level

Traditional differentiation fundamentals in insurance tie directly to underwritingrisk appetite, guidelines, pricing and service. Insurers are realizing that now is the time to drive more efficient business processes and make more effective decisions. By capitalizing on data, analytics, and advanced technologies and tools, insurers can extend automation and create a collaborative underwriting environment that supports growth and profit.

6. Extend analytics across the enterprise

Analytics and big data are grabbing headlines for good reasonthey are the incubators for new insights that foster innovation. Analytics and data will shape the competitive battleground for insurers over the next decade. Therefore, insurers need to be applying analytics beyond the pockets of success where they are now most comfortable.

7. Optimize claims beyond the transaction

Todays modern claims systems are able to integrate technologies, data and third-party information to provide a valuable combination of insight, intelligence, and customer care excellence. The benefits are many: new insights into operations, productive adjuster assignments, more effective management of third-party relationships, better severity control, improved case management and superior fraud management.

8. Accelerate paper-to-digital transformation

Moving communications and content from paper to a digital mode is not just about cutting costs; digital makes a completely different way of communicating possible. It provides the opportunity for a proactive level of service instead of a reactive levelchanging the customer experience in major ways. Insurers also need to be increasing the capture, creation, and delivery of digital information to respond to new opportunities.

9. Redefine impact of core

For most insurers, current market needs dictate the modernization of their core systems. This modernization involves extending capabilities well-beyond a duplication or replacement of the function of older legacy systems. Insurers must first take a broad view, one that encompasses their expectations for all core business processes and assesses the impact on capabilities across the entire enterprise. A full understanding of exactly how and where business processes can be improved empowers insurers with flexibility and new efficiency levels.

10. Leverage next-gen technologies

Success in leveraging next-gen technologies will shape the competitive landscape. Mobile pervasiveness coupled with social media trends are forever changing how people and businesses interact, communicate, evaluate, shop and buy. Telematics is demonstrating the power to impact product and price. Maturing cloud options for IT delivery are offering new flexibility and scalability alternatives. Advanced levels of collaboration are now possible and practical. We are in the middle of a big data explosion where sophisticated analytics are the key to making sense of it all.